{"id":777007965,"date":"2023-08-07T07:19:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T10:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777007965"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:19:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:19:41","slug":"philippine-court-orders-release-of-4-chinese-workers-arrested-in-pogo-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-court-orders-release-of-4-chinese-workers-arrested-in-pogo-raid","title":{"rendered":"Philippine court orders release of 4 Chinese workers arrested in POGO raid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Court of Appeals has ruled that the police unlawfully detained the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.-\u00a0<strong>The Court of Appeals (CA)\u00a0<\/strong>has ordered the immediate release of four Chinese workers who were arrested during\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-issues-order-against-raided-offshore-gaming-firm\" target=\"_blank\">a raid<\/a>\u00a0on a gambling operator in Las Pi\u00f1as City. Associate justice Rex Pascual instructed the National Capital Region Police Office and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group to release Ang Chin Keong, Choo Jun Cheng, Choo Wei Jazz, and Edy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The four workers had presented a habeas corpus petition contending that they were unlawfully detained. Some <strong>2,714 people<\/strong> were rescued in the raid, including <strong>1,534 identified as Filipinos<\/strong>\u00a0and foreign workers from different parts of Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chinese workers raised allegations that they were unjustly confined and faced constrained living conditions with an absence of essential resources such as running water and food rations.\u00a0Despite claims by the PNP that their detention was justified as protective custody in the context of curbing potential human trafficking, the CA found no legal basis for continued detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CA said the PNP failed to obtain the consent of the workers for custody and repatriation measures. Other foreigners detained remain in custody at the compound pending repatriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/filipino-senators-urge-president-to-ban-online-gambling\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Filipino senators urge president to ban online gambling<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Court of Appeals has ruled that the police unlawfully detained the workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":25406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippine Court of Appeals has ruled the detention of four Chinese workers, arrested during a raid on a Las Pi\u00f1as City gambling operator, as unlawful, ordering their immediate release. This decision highlights judicial oversight on law enforcement practices, particularly concerning human rights and due process in the context of iGaming operations and potential human trafficking allegations.","focusai_entities":"Court of Appeals, National Capital Region Police Office, Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, Ang Chin Keong, Choo Jun Cheng, Choo Wei Jazz, Edy","focusai_location":"Philippines, Las Pi\u00f1as City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Licensing Impact","query":"What are the potential implications of this Court of Appeals ruling on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation's (PAGCOR) licensing framework and oversight of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs)?"},{"label":"Labor Compliance Standards","query":"How will this judicial precedent influence the enforcement of labor laws, immigration policies, and human rights compliance standards for iGaming operators and their B2B suppliers in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[23911,15789],"class_list":["post-777007965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777007965"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777007973,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777007965\/revisions\/777007973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777007965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777007965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777007965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}